At breakfast, Paton yawned sleepily. It was very early. He hoped there was a window to look outside, but there was no window he had come across so far.
'Good morning, Auntie,' Venetia said cheerfully to Yolanda. Paton was shocked. Why was she so comfortable with a woman who had threatened her parents? Did she want to gain Yolanda's trust?
'Good morning, dear,' Yolanda smiled sickly and glanced at Paton, who gulped and spluttered, 'Good m-morning A-Auntie.' He chose a seat next to Venetia. Like dinner, the table was set neatly and in order. Breakfast looked delicious. Paton hardly recognized the other half. Paton noticed Lyell was dragged to the dining room with Grizelda in his basket. He was still asleep, wrapped in a soft purple blanket.
James nodded at Lucretia who passed severely, and took a seat next to Grizelda. The eating began in silence.
Paton turned to look at Venetia, who continued to gobble everything on her plate hungrily. He stared up ahead, and caught James frowning at him. He sliced his toast, even though he had lost his appetite. He lifted the fork to his mouth and took a very small bite. His father looked away.
'We're going to the garden today,' Yolanda said in a matter-of-fact voice, breaking the silence. 'I would like to show you all something.' She dabbed at her mouth with her napkin and smoothed out her grey-black hair into neat folds. 'Grizelda, you can bring your son if you'd like.'
'Of course, Aunt Yolanda; and his name is Lyell.' Grizelda said after swallowing her food.
Yolanda's smile grew wider. 'Good.' She said. 'Absolutely splendid.'
Paton pushed the rest of his food to the corner of his plate. His stomach rumbled loudly and he wished it hadn't, because Yolanda turned her gaze on him.
'Eat up, dear,' she said in a calm voice. 'I wouldn't want to leave you behind, not a lovely talented boy like you.'
James coughed loudly and stood up. He pushed in his chair and went over to Yolanda. Paton thought for a moment he would do something violent, but he merely leaned over and told her something Paton couldn't understand clearly. He caught the words, 'six', 'garden', 'sunrise' and 'water.'
'No I didn't forget,' his aunt replied in a low voice. Paton could hear her because he was closer to her and she wasn't much good as lowering her voice when she was excited. 'But I can take care of it, don't you worry, James.'
Now Yolanda got up and motioned James to follow her. They left the room. Paton was relived. He was able to finish the rest of his breakfast. Solange was the next to stand, and Paton came after her.
'Paton,' said Solange once they were in the hall. 'Can I talk to you for a moment?'
Paton turned and saw his mother blinking back water building at the bottom of her eyes.
'Yes, mum?' he asked, coming towards her. She knelt down slightly so she could look him in the eye.
'Paton, if anything wrong happens here, please try to not fall into the wrong hands. I want to see you live a long, beautiful life, Paton. I want you to try and rescue your sisters. But I'm not going to ask you to promise me-' a tear rolled down her cheek and she took a deep breath. '-because it may be impossible for you. But your father knows. Just- just, try. Tell me you will, Paton. I only need your word, because your sisters-' she paused and looked back fearfully. '-your sisters may be under her spell already.'
'Whose spell?' asked Paton confusedly. But his mother just shook her head.
'Give me your word Paton. I need it. I wasn't aware of her yesterday, or ever before, but your father told me everything.'
'Okay, I will try,' Paton said uncertainly, having absolutely no clue of what his mother meant. Who was there dangerous?
'You- you are a brave little boy.' Solange kissed him and stood up. She brushed away at her eyes and it seemed like nothing had happened. Solange turned away at a corner and hurried up the stairs. Behind Paton, the dining room door burst open and his two sisters, Venetia and Eustacia came out.
'Ah., Paton, just the person,' Eustacia said. 'We're leaving today, and we need to pack up. Take your bags outside.'
'Oh,' Paton said. He followed them to their room. Eustacia put all her Bloor's Academy work in her bag. Paton caught a glimpse of numbers and brackets as he packed.
'Let's go,' said Eustacia, throwing on a coat. 'Wear your coats- it's cold out there.'
Paton picked up his coat and put it on as Venetia did the same.
Once they were in the garden, Paton stared around. The sky was a dull yellow colour and there was a dead tree at least a few hundred metres away. It wasn't a garden at all. Just a field of dead yellow grass and stones. The castle was loomed behind them as the three trudged through the tangled mess of tall yellow grass.
Paton caught sight of James, Yolanda, Grizelda, Lyell and Lucretia. They were all in their coats and were talking all at once, except for Lyell, of course.
Eustacia and Venetia waded away Paton towards the adults and once they were there, Yolanda's face lit up. She looked very excited.
'For your surprise, I wanted to show you something, didn't I?' when she smiled, all of her perfectly white teeth shone in the dim light of the sky. Paton realised it wasn't actually the dim light, but the stones of the castle seemed to draw in the light into the dark, so there was very little light around the place. 'It's in my room, I was stupid to forget. I'll go fetch it while you all stay here and have a nice chat.' She hurried to the castle, faster than anyone could run through a sea of thick vine-like decomposed plants.
Paton was still; he peered side-ways at Venetia, who gave him a reassuring smile.
'The sky is yellow,' he whispered.
'So is the grass,' she whispered back.
'And the trees are dead,' he pointed out.
'So is the grass,' she repeated.
They burst out laughing. And, Lyell burst out crying. Grizelda began to rock him back and forth and James shook his head and the castle, telling Lucretia, 'This is my third time here.'
'Dad, how old were you when you came first?' asked Lucretia interestedly. Her father never got to answer, because there came a dreadful scream from the front of the castle. They all turned and there was another scream, if possibly, more terrible than the last. Paton stifled a gasp. He recognised the scream. In fact, he knew it very well, and had heard it only twice in his life.
It was his mother's scream.
